Town Square

keep a eye out in muirwood

Original post made
by aaron, Highland Oaks,
on Feb 2, 2009

recently, i have heard of more than just a few car break-in s in muirwood/ highland oaks area. a friends girlfriend had her car broken into last night. the suspicious indivual recently has been seen walking up to cars, looking in them then, texting something on his phone. my gues to his partner. they poped out her locking mechanism with a screw driving, damaged her car, stole her purse, and other items in the vehicle. other residents have confirmed a similar looking individual strolling his streat the night his neighbors car got burglarized. they have described a african american male, 5'7- 5'9, approx. 155-185lbs, stocky build, wearing a large puffy jacket, which is why they have a 30 pound variance in the weight. as i've lived in this neighbor hood for over 20 years, it is our job to stop this individual, report him to the police, and continue to keep our neighborhood safe.
with reports like these aren't we sooooo glad that now bart is connecting to our neighborhood too. woohoo. i'm so glad in a neighbor hood we used to never have to lock up in, now we have regular burglaries.
to those who have been violated by these crimes, we are truelly sorry, and good luck coping.
and a note to the ppd, stop harrassing people, and do something.

Great comment about the new BART Station as it relates to increased crime. Didn't our city leaders talk to the city of San Leandro and the owners of the Bayfair Mall before building this station? If they had I would think they would have found there was a big spike in crime when the BART station was built years ago. What makes them think that it will be any different in Pleasanton? I would hope that Pleasanton PD increases patrols in the housing developments in the vicinity of Stoneridge mall. Are we being overly protective concerning our neighborhoods? Maybe, but if past experiences are correct we should be concerned.

Posted by P-Town Resident
a resident of Valley Trails
on Feb 3, 2009 at 3:43 pm

No, BART trains have NOT been here that long considering many of us have lived in Pleasanton for over 20 years. I also agree that crime has risen since the BART trains have been extended out to Pleasanton.

Posted by Stoneridge Neighbor
a resident of Stoneridge
on Feb 3, 2009 at 8:38 pm

Hi. I live just one neighborhood over from Highland Oaks in the Stoneson/Stoneridge homes. A few weeks ago I noticed someone (who happened coincidentally to be African-American), canvassing my neighborhood on a weekday afternoon around 1:30 pm. Why would someone be going door-to-door in the middle of the afternoon, before kids are home from school, before people are home from work? I don't care what color your skin is, honestly. I called the police to alert them, and indirectly was accused of racial profiling! I'm sick and tired of people being dropped off into my neighborhood, sometimes they come in vans with a crew leader, selling magazines, candy, etc. door to door. They ignore "no solicitor signs" as if they don't know what that means. I'm just waiting for the day something happens like a break-in or another car burglary. It won't be a suprise, won't be the first or the last. When you leave expensive personal items in your car or in view of your windows, you should not be suprised when this happens. Times are tough, and people are prowling our neighborhoods while the police ignore our requests for them to just check out these people to see if they have legitimate reasons to be checking if we are home or not! These "solicitors" seem to have more rights than we do. They trespass onto our property, and we are supposed to be okay with it. I don't think so!

Posted by aaron
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Feb 10, 2009 at 4:04 pm

Sam. are you a idiot. seriously. i come here to warn people who live in the neighborhod and you say. "Maybe aaron is the thief?" . someone should slap some sense into that thick knoggin of yours.
crime definately increases with bart. though crime will come our way either way, considering the value of our city. and the incomes made by those who live here. it seems we are making it too easy these days. a car alarm and doors locked, and we are being foolish? doubt so. i have a 2 car garage that really only fits one. we have 4 vehicles in our home. so i can only leave one safe. 2 christmas' ago, my care trunk got poped in the same neighborhood, or possibly the mall shopping. either way same general vicinity. i hadn't noticed till the next morning. but my alarm did not go off. everything seemed fine until over $1000 in gifts were missing. so that's my fault too i guess.

the only reason i posted this is not to profile or get under anyones skin. simply to inform. keep an eye out and be a good neighbor. if someone is lurking around your neighbors car, and it isn't your neighbor. go outside, look directly at them. if nothing is missing , maybe they weren't doing anything wrong. but if something is , maybe, just maybe , they can be caught. i would expect since we are cutting teachers pay, but raising police pay, and buying they entire fleet new vehicles. they could be expected to do their job properly. the ratio of cops on duty is very high. but what is done? i hear alot of duis which equals revenue.understandible, that is what they go for. makes them more money. but believe me drunk people shouldn't be driving, i'm just using this as an example.
i've spoken to some of my neighbors, and we all agree to help eachother. we have neighborhood watch signs everywhere. and i remember when you could really tell. now most people don't care to know anything about their neighbors, let alone have to deal with anything that isn't directly related to them. but it does. just look out a window, or go outside, is that too much to ask, and to do to be a good neighbor.

Posted by aaron
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Feb 10, 2009 at 4:09 pm

and it is definately an issue of in my back yard. one is enough. castro valley only has one. why have more. owens is a very central location and only 2 miles from the new station. plus there is buses. so while the surroundings get worse. let's make ourselves good people, and good neighbors

Posted by Grace
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Feb 13, 2009 at 11:18 am

I've heard that there were additional break-ins to cars during the evening hours this week, plus an attempted break-in to at least one home during mid-morning hours. I hope the police department and the Pleasanton Weekly don't bury these reports; residents should be made aware to be on the alert ... that's the job of the police - keep citizens and their property safe -- and the newspaper - to report the news, not just the good news.

Posted by Not just a rumor!
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Feb 13, 2009 at 9:21 pm

Neighbors have had their car broken into, and the police confirmed this is a new trend. So why is there nothing reported here in the paper? I understand that the Pleasanton Weekly wants to keep the image of our town as Pleasantville, but it does NO service to the citizens to sweep this trend and any pertinent information (that might prevent future incidents and damage) under the rug!

Posted by aaron
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Feb 25, 2009 at 1:58 pm

i've heard of more burglaries!!!! goog job ppd, way to patrol for those who pay your bills. seriously is it that hard, just drive through. i remember growing up here especially in high school, if we were walking they would stop us. maybe that's only cause we were white kids. they felt they could harrass. but now we have some people that need to be. shoot, maybe set up a sting car. do i really have to watch cops, in order to tell them how to do there jobs.

Posted by aaron
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Feb 26, 2009 at 12:29 pm

yesterday i had a solicitor, that fits the decrisption of the perps, come by my house. i was very rude closed the door on him, and made sure he saw my dog who would attack any intruder in a second. after i went outside and play hoops, watching him canvas the streets. i haven't heard anyone from our block being burglarized.but am going to keep my ears open. maybe if you make sure they know you are looking at them. they leave your street alone.

Well, I'm not certain of what happened, but I heard there was yet another break-in Tuesday, March 3rd on Springdale Ave. in the afternoon, with a large number of police cars parked outside a house. Is there any truth to this? WAS this yet one more incident in the Highland Oaks/Muirwood area? And why have NONE of these been reported in the paper (I ask again) so that residents are alerted to what is going on?

I'm very saddened to hear that - what a loss that will be to your neighborhood - my condolences to the family, friends and neighbors.

And I'm also very sorry that the rumor mill made this out to be something it wasn't; it seems that in the absence of information and timely news postings in the Pleasanton Weekly - both happy events and very sad ones like this - that people see something, but don't know what happened (in this case, many police cars outside a home) and try to explain it on their own.